1990s to early 2000s: Early years

The airline was established under the name Portavia Linhas Aéreas on 25 July 1988 as a joint-stock company, but had to wait two years before starting operations due to a delay in air transport liberalisation. Operations eventually commenced on 7 July 1990 with flights from Lisbon to Porto and Faro. It initially began flying scheduled domestic and international charter flights, as airlines other than the state flag carrier SAPSA were not permitted to fly scheduled international flights at the time. Portavia's first scheduled international operations would begin in June 1992.

Portavia's fleet at its inception consisted of two Fokker 100s; they were then supplemented by eight Embraer 145s in the late 1990s. At this point Portavia emerged to challenge SAPSA's historical dominance in the Portuguese aviation market. Specialising in the regional market, Portavia focused its operations on domestic routes as well as destinations in France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, and Spain.

The company’s fleet stabilized in 2000 with fourteen aircraft (six Fokker 100s and eight Embraer 145s) still operating today. Portavia developed its own maintenance services since its earliest days, but it only managed to increase its maintenance capabilities with the opening of a new hangar at Lisbon Airport in 2005. Performing most of its Fokker and Embraer maintenance in-house, Portavia managed to significantly improve its operational viability.

Registration: CS-TPA
Aircraft name: Albatroz